The invention relates to a method and apparatus for providing directional information, and more particularly to providing directional information to a handheld communications device such as a wireless phone.
Cellular or wireless phones have become a very common mode of communication. In order to employ these wireless devices, networks of towers are positioned at various locations, and through these towers telephonic connections are established with the public switch telephone network (PSTN). Through the PSTN, the telephone calls can be routed over landlines to their desired destination or back to the cellular network to be transmitted to another wireless telephone.
In the early days of wireless communications, the types of information which may have been transmitted to and from these wireless devices was limited. This information may have included the identification data for the particular device, as well as the telephone number to which a connection is to be established. This information is in addition to the analog audio information which was transmitted between the wireless devices and the telephone network.
In recent times, the amount of information which may be processed by a wireless communications device has significantly increased. Many wireless telephones now include the capability to display alphanumeric messages, as well as transmit alphanumeric messages which are entered by the telephone user through the keypad. All of this is in addition to the transmission and receipt of audio information.
One technology which is finding more applications is global positioning systems (GPS). Through this technology, a geographic location for a person or device may be determined within a small margin of error. These devices work by triangulating signals received from at least three satellites orbiting the earth, and then through performance of various calculations, a geographic position may be determined. The devices created to perform these calculations have been miniaturized to the point that the components may be incorporated into a chip set which easily fits within a handheld communications device such as a wireless phone.
The inventor has recognized that the operation of a wireless telephone may be further enhanced by incorporating position locating technology therein. If the location of a wireless telephone may be determined through electronic means, certain processing operations may be performed at remote locations, such as a telephone network switch, in order to provide audio and/or alphanumeric directions to the user of the wireless telephone from their current location to a desired destination.
Disclosed herein is a method and apparatus for providing directional information to a wireless communications device based on positional information received. Included in the system is a wireless communications device which includes the functionality to receive, transmit and, in the case of alphanumeric data, display information. Incorporated into the wireless telephone is a device which provides position information relating to the geographic location of the wireless telephone. In one aspect of the invention, this position determining device may be a global positioning system (GPS) chip set which processes information which is received from navigational satellites and provides positional information via a transmission from the wireless device.
A wireless communications network may be employed which transports communication signals to and from the wireless communications device. In connection with the wireless network, may be a switch which includes an apparatus for processing the positional information to determine a geographical location for the wireless telephone. Also included at the switch may be various devices for searching databases and calculating and providing directional information based on the geographic location of the wireless communications device and a desired destination which is provided by the wireless communications device user.
In one aspect of the invention, a wireless communications device user may enter a special code for a desired destination. Included at the switch may be a database which associates destination codes with physical addresses for the destination. Once a wireless communications device user enters a specific code, the database may be searched in order to identify the street address for the desired destination. Modules are further included in the switch for calculating a path to be followed from the current geographic location of the wireless telephone to the desired destination.
The directional information may be provided to the wireless telephone in a number of ways. Audio instructions may be generated at the switch and transmitted over the wireless network to the device to which the device user may listen. Further, the directional information may be converted into alphanumeric information which is transmitted over the wireless network to the wireless device and disclosed to the telephone user through the display incorporated into the wireless device. Still further, a combination of both alphanumeric and audio instructions may be transmitted to the wireless telephone.
In another aspect of the invention, the destination code which is entered by the wireless telephone user may be the telephone number for the desired destination. A table may be created and periodically updated which associates telephone numbers with street addresses. Further, if a special service is provided, unique destination codes, may be only two or three digits long, may be entered in order to identify a destination to which directional information will be generated.